zoo THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



thinning the fruit, as soon as it is sufficiently advanced for determining the best to 

 reserve and that to be rejected, cannot be over-estimated, and the subject is strongly 

 commended to the attention of all who desire to turn the resources of the soil to the 

 most profitable account in growing fruit. 



The disadvantages of over-crowding, and the benefits resulting from judiciously 

 thinning fruit in its early stages, are well exemplified in the accompanying illustration, 

 Fig. 52, namely : 1, peach tree branch carrying six fruits, the foliage small, and the 

 growth weak : therefore, indifferent provision is made for the succeeding year's crop ; 

 2, inverted ripe fruit, showing the relative proportion of stone to flesh in the 

 unthinned produce ; 3, a similar branch bearing two large, handsome fruits, the least 

 promising having been removed at an early stage, the wood being stouter in conse- 

 quence, and the prospects of a full crop the following year assured ; 4, section of ripe 

 fruit, showing the increase of flesh in the thinned fruit over the unthinned, by the 

 dotted outline of the latter inside the former. This is a perfectly fair example of 

 cultural attention on the one hand, and negligence on the other, in thinning over- 

 crowded fruits. The heavy crop of small fruits of trifling worth have exhausted 

 the tree and soil in supporting the stones ; the two-thirds less in number of large 

 fruits being fourfold greater in value, and the growth correspondingly satisfactory. 

 The principle sought to be inculcated applies to other kinds of fruits besides those 

 represented, and the importance of the subject is apparent. 



> 

 PERFECTING AND PROTECTING FRUIT. 



Perfecting Fruit. High colour and quality are the outcome of highly-elaborated 

 and assimilated matter. Fruit overgrown and shaded during its formation never 

 attains the colour and perfection of that which is subjected to atmospheric influences 

 in all stages of its development. The advantage of exposure and the disadvantage 

 of shade are clearly demonstrated in individual fruits. Fruits are always higher in 

 colour and richer in flavour on the exposed than the shaded side. Whatever interferes 

 with the free access of light and air to the principal foliage in all cases, and to the 

 fruit in most, must be removed or drawn aside. A single leaf overhanging a fruit 

 may so militate against its colouring as to completely spoil it for a special purpose. 

 When the fruit attains its full size it is important that it have light and air, but 

 if up to that stage it has been shaded it is not good policy to remove the obstruction 

 suddenly. It should be removed gradually in order to inure the fruit to the changed 



